Gardeners urged to make peat-free pledge

The Peat Free Pledge campaign is being backed by organisations including The Scottish Wildlife Trust, Plantlife and Climate Revolution, as well as individuals such as designer and environmental activist Vivienne Westwood.

The Government has a target for UK amateur gardeners to be peat-free by 2020, but next year will see a host of high-peat composts return to garden centres.

They claim that peat is being consumed “200 times faster than it forms” and 94 per cent of UK lowland bogs have been lost.

Asked if the campaign would also target the vast quantity of peat that’s burnt in Irish power stations, spokeswoman Dr Anna Evely said: “It’s focused on what we, as individuals, can do to help our peatlands.

“In this case it’s a simple message of ‘go peat-free in your garden’ – a message aimed at gardeners.